FishbowlDC would post a picture of Gordon, often pulled from Gordon’s Facebook page, and “provide a false and humiliating description,” Gordon alleged.

The posts – the complaint includes a few examples – would often insinuate that Gordon was sexually promiscuous and actively seeking public attention. Those descriptions were false, Gordon said.

Gordon’s complaint says she isn’t a public figure, and the posts “caused injury to her reputation and business interests, and caused her to suffer emotional distress and humiliation.”

Fishbowl “published one of the more despicable Wendy Wednesday articles on the day Ms. Gordon’s mother died,” the complaint reads. FishbowlDC is owned by Mediabistro, which in turn is owned by WebMediaBrands. The suit names both companies, as well as FishbowlDC Editor Betsy Rothstein and contributor Peter Ogburn.

“While we cannot comment on the specifics of pending litigation, we do not believe that there is any merit to the claims and plan to defend against them vigorously,” WebMediaBrands counsel Mitchell Eisenberg says in an email to Poynter.